RÉMY VUIBERT (France, 1607? - 1652)."Penitent Magdalene".Oil on canvas. Antique re-colouring.

RÉMY VUIBERT (France, 1607? - 1652).
"Penitent Magdalene".
Oil on canvas. Antique re-colouring.
Measurements: 47 x 37 cm.
With her hand on her chest and genuflecting, the young and blonde Mary Magdalene bows a crucifix that can hardly be appreciated in the image due to the darkness that emanates from the cave and contrasts with the luminosity of the pearly skin of the young woman and her violet iridescent mantle. According to the Gospels, she housed and provided materially for Jesus and his disciples during their stay in Galilee, and was present at the Crucifixion. She was a witness to the Resurrection, as well as the one in charge of transmitting the news to the apostles. She is also identified with the woman who anointed Jesus' feet with perfumes before his arrival in Jerusalem, so her main iconographic attribute is a knob of essences. While Eastern Christianity particularly honours Mary Magdalene for her closeness to Jesus, considering her "equal to the apostles", in the West the idea developed, based on her identification with other women in the Gospels, that before meeting Jesus she had engaged in prostitution, hence the later legend of her penance in the desert. While Eastern Christianity honours Mary Magdalene especially for her closeness to Jesus, considering her "equal to the apostles", in the West the idea developed, based on her identification with other women in the Gospels, that before meeting Jesus she had been a prostitute. Hence the later legend that she spent the rest of her life as a penitent in the desert, mortifying her flesh.

The date of Vuibert's birth remains hypothetical. If today the idea of a birth in 1600 seems to have been abandoned, one can think of a birth around 1606 in Troyes, according to Pierre-Jean Mariette's Abecedary, or even a later date, even suggesting, in an extreme case, the date of 1615. The 1620s was a formative period for him, about which little is known. He could have frequented a Trojan or Parisian workshop, like that of Georges Lallemant2. He was a pupil of Simon Vouet in Rome, perhaps between 1624 and 1627, although today these dates seem unlikely3. Most probably he would have entered Simon Vouet's studio in 1632, where he would have met Dufresnoy and Mignard, and would have stayed in Rome from 1635 with the latter. He arrived in Rome in 1635, where he met Nicolas Poussin. He then executed several engravings based on works by Raphael. He left 18 etchings executed in 1635, including four compositions for the ceiling of the signature chamber in the Vatican (The Judgement of Solomon, Adam and Eve, Apollo and Marsias, and The Providence that Governs, and Providence Governing the World) as well as 14 allegorical figures from the decorations of Constantine's salon (Prudentia, Innocentia, Moderatio, Evangelium, Fortitudo, Sapientia, Aeternitas, Aeclesia, Charitas, Paupertas, Comitas, Iustitia, Fides and Pax)4. He also copied Le martyre de Saint André de Dominiquin, in line with Poussin's aspirations, and left an etching executed in 1640 from a drawing made in Rome5. He is also attributed with a series on The Story of Diana, which was probably based on works by Dominiquin, depicting Latona and her children, Diana and Actaeon, Diana and Endymion, Pan and Diana, and the Sacrifice of Iphigenia6. He also studied the work of Guido Reni, from whom he recorded The Archangel Michael slaying the Devil in 1636, and perhaps copied compositions by Zampieri. Around 1636-1637, he painted a Judgement of Solomon, acquired by the Marquis of Giustiniani and later engraved by Agricola under the name of Poussin. Vuibert appears as an eminently classical painter, a follower of Poussin's style and a characteristic painter of Parisian Atticism. Few works by his hand have survived, except for the Scenes from the Life of the Virgin on the ceiling of the nuns' choir in the convent of the Visitation in Moulins.